I Don't Remember You
by Starspangled Fiction
Summary: Remus Lupin's girlfriend broke his heart... but why he can't remember her name, and who is that girl that looks like her?
1. Three AM

"_I don't remember you…_

_I don't remember you…_

_I can't recall a single thing you used to say or do…_

_What dancing in the park?_

_What laughing in the dark?_

_What smoldering fireplace that lit your face with every spark…_

_And if I'd met you once before,_

_Somehow I can't recall it anymore…_

_You're just another girl…_

_You're not at all like her…_

_But for an instant, when you touched me, I believed you were…_

_But I was wrong this moment is new._

_Because I can't, I won't, I don't remember you…_

_That was another time_

_Another time and place,_

_Although you bear a faint resemblance, you're another face…_

_Yes, I was wrong this moment is new…_

_Because I can't…._

_I won't…_

_I don't remember you…"_

Three AM

This was the fourth time this week that he had woken up at three AM. He sat up out of breath from the closing black of his dream. He ran his hand through his hair, damp from the sweat. He couldn't even remember the dream. It's contents, as well as the reason why he was having nightmares, eluded him to the point of painful frustration. It also annoyed him to know that his three best friends were peacefully asleep all around him. He thought maybe even one of them—or two—weren't asleep at all. He thought he noticed Lily sneak in, and he had been hearing noises from Padfoot's bed all night. That wasn't a surprise though.

This was the fourth night since she left his life forever. She was gorgeous, brown hair, blue eyes, thin, great legs and medium height. She was as perfect for him as he could have imagined. They would stay up until the sun rose just getting wasted and smoking gillyweed until their stupor either led to their passing out, or shagging for hours. Four days ago she didn't see him as being perfect for her any more. She dumped him and he fell into a stupor.

It was Remus Lupin's seventh year at Hogwarts. And he found himself going through the motions without his former girlfriend. It almost felt like he didn't remember her name.

He was taking a walk down the hall on his free period, he didn't want to be sitting stationary for long—and then he felt a sharp pain along his ass. He jerked his head back to see it was his long-time friend, Sirius Black.

"Oi, where you think your goin' mate?"

Remus turned around to meet the sharp grey eyes of his friend, "There's fuck all else to do. So I'm going out to the lake for a fag."

"You mean fuck all else to do with no _ around" He replied almost instantly. Remus didn't even hear a name come out of Sirius' mouth. Weird how pain remains in the heart like a knife. Weird how his eyes and ears had attuned to her absence., "seriously moony," Sirius continued, "You have GOT to get your shit together and stop thinking about that fucking bird. She means nothing! She didn't want you—" Remus had heard enough and snapped.

"She wasn't just some bird! She was everything! She was perfect! And I'll never be happy without her!"

This statement incurred a deep laugh from Sirius, "never be happy without her. What do you have no balls at all? What's the MATTER with you Moony? Do you know how easy it is to get a girl to fuck you?"

Remus breathed impatiently and leaned against the wall, turning to look back at Sirius, " I don't want a shag. I want my other half back."

Sirius never would understand him. He didn't see the beauty that lie beneath the breasts. To him, a woman was something with a sex organ. Nothing more. A woman was like the purse to go with a great outfit. The diamond in a ring. To Remus, the woman he loved wasn't just a diamond, she was the stars. She was the entire heavens.

"Still not sleeping well?" Sirius said with a bit more concern.

"Nope." He said, "Every day I wake up at three, and subsequently a few other times after that. All my dreams are dark and I can never remember them."

"Christ, man. The way you act this is worse than the whole werewolf thing—wait a tick, did _ even know about your furry little problem?"

There it was again, the muffled sounds that came out of his mouth when he mentioned Remus' ex.

"No she didn't know." As they were reaching their destination, Remus pulled out a cigarette and put it into his mouth, fumbling in his pockets for a lighter as Sirius spoke,

"How the bloody hell did you think that would work out if she was your 'other half'!"

Remus frowned as he held the lighter to his lips and took a drag of his cigarette. Sirius did have a point, but he was going to tell her after a while… wasn't he? He looked back, but the thought of him ever being with her hurt his head. She was too perfect wasn't she? For someone as low as him… Why couldn't re remember her name? He ran over details in his head, his mind going a million miles a second. But he couldn't think of her name, only her face faintly flickered in his memory. Each flicker of her blue eyes, her brown hair, her perfect body, brought him pain. How many times had they shagged? How many times had they been passed out drunk together? He took another drag of his cig. And ran a hand in his hair.

"You need to forget about her, man." Sirius finally said, lighting his own cigarette.

"I've already forgotten her."

"Doesn't fucking seem like it."

"Trust me. All memory of that bird is gone." He shivered. He had walked outside without his cloak on. Between wanting to forget and wanting to remember, he had forgotten it was November, "I'm so done being out here." He stated and tossed his cigarette in the gravel path and turned to walk back with Sirius.

"So…" he began, "Who are you with this week?" Remus turned to look at Sirius' response.

"I've, um, actually been with the same girl for the past few weeks now." He stuffed his hands in his pockets, "Though you wouldn't have noticed, being too wrapped up in the imminent explosion of your relationship with _."

He felt floored. Sirius Black? With the same girl? A FEW WEEKS?

"Who is it?"

Sirius looked a bit uncomfortable, "Lauren Townsend…. Ravenclaw 6th year…"

"Townsend…. ? I don't know her."

"No shit. She's a Ravenclaw in the year below us."

Remus rolled his eyes again, annoyed by Sirius' company, "I'm going to go take a nap."

"Whatever, man."

Remus strolled away toward the Gryffindor tower, upset that Sirius could maintain a girlfriend. Because in reality, who the fuck was Sirius compared to him? What was so wrong with him that his girlfriend of three and a half years didn't want him any more? Especially when he thought he was doing everything right for her. Why couldn't he remember the reason?


	2. Padfoot's Girlfriend

Sirius Black strolled into the Great Hall for lunch. His normal strut was in full swing as he in seemingly one motion, drop his bag, swing a long slender leg over the bench and then its twin, and flick his hair back behind his ear. A few girls turned their heads jealously, a few stared and giggled, but he wasn't watching them. He wasn't scoping out which one to select for the night. He was scanning the room for the girl he had been seeing.

Lauren Townsend was 17 years old, Ravenclaw, intelligent. She had shoulder length dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. All of her friends couldn't understand why she would ever go out with a guy like Sirius Black. At first they hated each other.

Lauren was advanced in Potions, and was allowed to take NEWT level with Professor Slughorn's morning class. Sirius was in that class as well, although he always slept through it.

She hated how he was able to get such outstanding marks by sleeping and drawing penises on the illustrations in the textbook, while she had to work so hard to get her excellent marks. He was always a little ahead of her, and she hated his guts for it.

Rumor had it that Lauren and Sirius got into a fight one day.

That she punched him right in the face.

Ever since that day, they had been dating.

Lauren walked into the great hall and walked over to Sirius. He immediately stood up, "Hello gorgeous…"

"Oh Sirius, shut up…" she laughed, "Hey…. Is it okay if my friend comes to sit with us today? It's getting to be too weird to just come sit over here without her…"

"As long as she doesn't cock block me," he smirked.

Lauren sat down next to him, "did you do your potions homework?"

"ppppfftt…. No."

She rolled her eyes and he threw his arms in the air, "What!"

"I TOLD you I would do it with you, but NO, you said you had it done already!"

"I wanted to go out with Remus and get high, is that so bad?"

"Yes! Sirius I told you, I don't give a shit if you want to get high with Rem, but you can't fail potions…"

Just then he grabbed her and kissed her on the lips.

Lauren's face turned bright red and she smiled, "what was that for?"

Sirius shrugged and started to eat some chicken. She shook her head and smiled, taking a drink of her pumpkin juice, "I wonder where she is…"

"Who?"

"… My friend. Who I just told you was going to be eating lunch with us?"

"Who is she?"

"Her name is Kelly Moody… she's a slytherin."

"Seriously. A slytherin?"

Her eyes narrowed, she didn't look amused, "yes."

He shrugged again and continued to eat.

The two sat eating lunch pretty quietly. They had a sort of relationship where they could sit and not talk, but still be just as comfortable with each other. Sirius liked that, because sometimes he was either too drunk to talk, or too bored to talk. And Lauren was just fine with sitting with him.

"So, you wanna come over tonight, do homework, shag?" He raised his eyebrow at her, kissing down her neck a bit.

"Padfoot!" She blushed, "not right now…." She couldn't help but giggle, "yeah sure…."

He wrapped his arms around her, kissing her deeply on the lips. When all of a sudden there was an awkward voice behind them,

"Well if you REALLY didn't want me to eat lunch with you today, you should have said something."

Lauren pushed Sirius' face away from her own and looked back, "Kell… Sirius is just being an ass, sit!" she patted the seat beside her.

Sirius looked over Lauren's shoulder as a girl with short brown hair and blue eyes sat beside his girlfriend. She was about medium height.

"Christ…. You look just like her…" Sirius said breathlessly.

The girl craned her head to look at him, "look like…. Who?"

"This girl that I knew for a while… you look just like her—sort of."

"Oh." Was all she said about it.

"The only thing is you're no where near as pretty…. And you're a little fat."

Lauren's eyes widened and she began to hit Sirius. He had never had much regard for the feelings of others. Especially when he was speaking the truth.

Kelly looked away, "I'm going to go. I'm not very hungry anyway." With that she picked up her back, "talk to you later, Lauren…" She picked up a spiral bound book off of the table and headed off toward her Defense against the Dark Arts class early, and hungry.

"Way to go, asshole." Lauren said before hitting him one final time.


	3. Just Another Girl

Remus always went to the DADA classroom when he had nothing else to do. He loved it there, the skulls, the twisted figures, the large rattling cupboards and dark forms skulking about in the shadows. He thought of how nice it would be to become the DADA teacher here some day… how much he loved dark magic. He decided not to take a nap because his dreams usually haunted him. Because of that dense blackness that swallowed up his senses whenever he thought of HER. Who ever she was.

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and started toward the classroom. Remus was moving particularly slow today, because the full moon was fast approaching, and right before the animal hormones kicked in, he always felt like shit.

"Was I ever going to tell her?" he wondered to himself, "Why wouldn't I tell her… If she was my other half, why was I scared to tell her?"

Who was she anyway? Brown hair. Blue eyes that caught the light like diamonds… right? She was completely extraordinary in every way… or so he recalled from the mist of his clouded head.

Looking down he saw that he was still walking, that he was still going through the motions of life even if he wasn't really living. He ran a hand in his hair, and tugged gently. That was his favorite thing, someone tugging at his hair. All of a sudden a surge of pleasure coursed through him and he felt a tightening in his pants. Immediately he ducked into the dada classroom. Closing the door behind him, eyes closed in frustration, a hand clapped over his hardness, teeth clenched, waiting for it to pass.

But when he opened his eyes, he wasn't staring into an empty classroom. Remus was looking into the grey blue eyes of a woman.

There was a long pause. Silence so tense you could hear the quiet rattling of a trunk in the corner.

Remus opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing.

"Well… that was more of you than I needed to see." the girl said.

And just as Remus started to focus less on her eyes, and more on the whole picture, something profound hit him.

Blue eyes.

Brown hair.

Short haircut.

Medium height.

Was it… her?

A flash of a woman looking remarkably like her flashed in his memory and he ran a hand in his hair.

"Are you… alright?" The girls voice said again.

"Fine."

"Oh so you HAVE a voice then?" she smirked, turning back to her notebook on the desk, "my name's Kelly…"

"Hey… I'm Remus."

"Oh, my friend is dating your friend."

"Dating, my friend?"

She looked at him like he had a million heads, "Sirius Black? Your friend…."

"OH, that Ravenclaw bird…"

"Lauren…. Yeah."

Another long awkward silence rang through the air as Remus continued to stare in strange remembrance of this girl, " Have we ever met before?" he said.

Kelly turned to look at him again, "I don't think so…"

"Are you sure…?"

"You're still holding your crotch," she said plainly as her face turned pink.

"Oh…" he said as he slowly removed it and put it in his pocket.

She stood up, "You're not in my class."

"Yeah well there isn't a class in here until one in the afternoon. It's only Twelve. Why aren't you at lunch?"

Right as he said at lunch, her gaze fell to the floor, and for an instant she looked uncomfortable in her own skin. Remus ran a hand in his hair, "Not hungry…" was all she said.

He peeked over her shoulder, "what are you doing? Homework?"

She looked over her shoulder, "drawing…"

"You're an artist then?" he was trying to get off the subject of lunch, and he started to cross the room, holding a hand out to grab the sketchbook off the desk. But Kelly reached out to get it at the same time.

Their hands touched.

Remus felt sparks from the tips of his fingers where his skin met hers.

This was her.

He remembered, this was the girl he used to love four days ago.

"Why did you leave me?" He said.

Kelly looked weirded out by the older boy and she stammered, "Excuse me?"

"I don't remember you. I don't recall a single thing we used to say or do. What dancing in the park? What laughter in the dark? What smoldering fire place that lit your face with every spark… and if I'd met you once before, some how I can't recall it anymore!" the words of anger and hurt flooded out of Remus' mouth before the girl had time to react.

She felt pity for him, she didn't know who had hurt him so bad, but obviously it had been devastating.

He held her hand tight and puller her into a kiss.

Her eyes widened and she pushed him away, slapping him across the face.

Remus then realized, he was wrong, this wasn't her. She was too plain. She was too fat. She was too dull. This girl wasn't Diamonds! She was a grain of sand. She was a tiny fragment of nothing in a vast landscape full of nothing spectacular. The pain seared up from inside him and he turned and ran out of the classroom.

Kelly stood frozen in her spot, and she collapsed onto the bench, a hand went up to her mouth, she was breathing heavily. What had just happened?

How could she have let down a stranger?

Who was she supposed to be?


	4. Snape

Remus tore down the hallway, knocking over a few first years on his way to the large open window to throw up.

When his stomach had stopped lurching from the pain, he looked up and wiped his mouth, people were staring, whispering. He glared at a group of third year Slytherin girls who gasped and walked away.

"Well, well, well. Lupin."

He turned around to meet the black hard gaze of Severus Snape. A weird smirk was over his face, "Eat something bad? Or… did you drink too much again last night?"

Remus sneered and before he could say anything, Sirius strode up behind him and flicked his wand. Water blasted Snape from behind and in a second he was dripping wet. Lauren was behind Sirius, and hit him. Remus had a strange look of shock, and Snape turned to face Sirius.

"Sorry to catch you off guard, Sniv. Thought you could use a bath." He was so pleased with himself.

Snape turned on the spot and stormed away toward the dungeons to change.

"Why were you talking to Snape?" asked Lauren.

Remus shrugged and looked down the hall, "he was just being a pest."

Sirius chuckled, "What else is new—I thought you were going to take a nap."

"I couldn't sleep… and um, I kissed your friend."

"JAMES?" Sirius exclaimed.

"NO you stupid git, HER friend." He pointed to Lauren.

Lauren looked confused beyond belief and pointed to herself, "My friend?"

"Yeah." He pulled out a cigarette and lit it right there by the window.

"KELLY!" Sirius blurted out in the middle of the hall, "BUT SHES SO FUCKIN' UGLY."

Remus and Lauren glared at him, "why did you kiss her?"

Remus shrugged.

"Told you It'd be easy to get rid of _, " Sirius grinned, "ask the bird to shag you. I'm sure she's still a virgin, she'd be grateful that anyone would WANT to take her cherry."

Lauren flicked her wand and Sirius' voice was gone.

Kelly was sitting in class, looking through her sketchbook.

Remus Lupin was drawn in there a few times.

She had a crush on him. She has had a crush on him ever since Lauren started hanging out with Sirius. Kelly was at all of their 'Marauder' get-togethers. She was of course invisible, but there. She would see him sitting with his beautiful girlfriend. She kept thinking that she might be looking into a mirror of what her life could be. She looked just like his girlfriend, except not. And I guess Remus had just noticed.

Rumor had it that they had broken up, and judging by the events that took place an hour ago, they had.

Maybe now she could sit beside him at the drinking circles. She was always the third wheel, but now what if she could be the second wheel.

Professor Merrythought was talking about the dangers of nonverbal spells and how they could be used against foes, but Kelly wasn't listening.

"Miss Moody."

"Miss Moody."

"MISS MOODY!"

Professor Merrythought's voice finally rang through her head and she looked up, "y-yes?"

"JUST because your Uncle is an Auror DOESN'T mean that you know everything about the Dark Forces, dark times are among us and you need to be—"

"Constantly Vigilant?" She replied in a bored voice.

"Detention, Miss Moody. I will see you after dinner."

Why did she always get detention?


	5. Dinner that Night

Kelly walked into the Great Hall, thinking about the detention coming up. She was scanning the Ravenclaw table, hoping Lauren was there. Unfortunately, when she turned her gaze to the Gryffindor table, there she sat.

Lauren Townsend.

Sirius Black.

James Potter.

Lily Evans.

Peter Pettigrew.

_Remus Lupin._

She did not need this right now. She already had to go to detention after dinner. She could see Professor Merrythought glaring at her from the staff table. Did her teachers talk about her because her legal guardian was her uncle; Alastor Moody?

Thoughts raced through her head. She knew that Remus didn't want her there. Not only did she now remind him of his girlfriend, but he had kissed her. And she heard a rumor that he threw up after. Regardless or not of its actuality, it made her feel like shit.

She felt like nothing.

Remus was everything.

He was funny, handsome, kind, brilliant, talented, popular, manly. Even though he was mysteriously covered with scars he was everything she could have ever wanted in a man. But until noon today, he didn't know she existed.

Lauren saw her and stood and waved, "Over here!"

Kelly grimaced and pulled her sketchbook tighter against her chest as she approached the table. Her insecurities were preying on her mind with every step.

Sirius rolled his eyes at Remus. Remus just ignored everything and stared down into his pumpkin juice.

"How was your day, Kell?" Lauren asked.

Lauren and Kelly had been friends since their first year. They met on the train because Lauren's owl had gotten out of his cage and flew down the corridor.

"It was fine. I got detention…" she said as she swung a leg over the bench. She was sitting next to Remus, but keeping her distance and sitting way too close to Frank Longbottom on the other side of her.

"How'd you pull that off?" Lauren looked surprised, "What teacher!"

"Merrythought…"

"Oh she's a fuckin' bitch," said Remus.

Kelly and Remus awkwardly locked eyes for a second, and looked away.

"so… how long is detention?" Lauren asked.

Kelly shrugged and Lauren responded with, "well if you're out at like 9-10, you should come down to the edge of the forest with us and have a few drinks!"

Sirius stared at Lauren, hoping she'd get the 'not today' vibe, but she just continued, "James and Lily aren't coming down tonight, so it'll just be me, Siri and Rem… you should come!"

Remus looked blank. Kelly looked down at the table, taking a drink of her juice, "yeah sure…" was all she said.

Dinner continued and became a little easier to bear. Conversations with Lauren made it less awkward. Lily always had something nice to say, and she always included everyone in her conversations.

Sirius was halfway through a story of when he was flying his motorbike with James this summer, outrunning some muggle police officers when Remus turned to Kelly and softly said, "Take a walk with me?"

Kelly inhaled the juice she was drinking and began to cough, Remus stood up, "I'm going to take her for some air, be right back," he effortlessly stood up, grabbed his cloak and grabbed her arm, taking her with him. Once out of the Great Hall he pulled his cloak around her as they stepped outside.

"Remus, why are we—"

Remus pulled out a cigarette and lit it, "I'm sorry about what happened today, Kell."

"You don't have to apologize, you know. I know you were upset, I could tell."

"I do have to apologize," he ran a hand in his hair, "not only was your first impression of me holding my crotch, but—"

She cut him off, " Um… it wasn't my first impression of you. We've hung out before."

"We… have?" He took a drag of his cig.

"Yes. Though I don't expect you to remember, you were always completely immersed in what's her name." She looked away, pulling his cloak around her tighter.

His hand went through his hair again, "You're just another girl. You're not at ALL like her."

"Don't you think I've gotten that from you already?" She bit her lip, trying not to cry.

Remus sighed and closed his eyes, "but for one INSTANT when you touched me, I believed you were, but I was wrong. These moments with you are completely new to me."

"Is that such a terrible thing…? That you and me could be friends?"

"I can't. I won't." Remus snapped.

"Remus!"

"I don't remember her!"

"What do you mean you don't remember her?"

"Every time I think about my ex-girlfriend, I can't remember her name. I don't really remember what she looks like. I can't remember anything we did together. And I keep waking up at night having these dreams that are so black and empty that I wake up in a cold sweat!" For a split second, Remus had confided in her like they had been friends for a lifetime.

Kelly went to him immediately and hugged him, "Remus…"

She felt him trembling from the cold, and she tried to take off his cloak to put it on him, "No. I want you to keep it on. You'll catch cold."

"Well what if you do?"

"A cold is the least of my problems," he smiled weakly, "trust me, Kell."

"Rem… let's go back inside," she tugged at his sweater, "please?"

He nodded and they walked back in together, right in the middle of a strange story.

"You want to LICK you-know-who's face." Sirius said.

"Only to see if it tastes like candy!" Lauren laughed.

"Shut up you guys…." Peter said shyly.

Professor Merrythought beckoned Kelly to her; Kelly pulled on her sweater and picked up her bag.

"Okay you guys… I have to go…"

Lauren jumped up and hugged her, "Hope to see you in one piece later!"

She laughed, "I hope I'm in one piece too!"

She walked off and took one look back as she left, Remus had a hand in his hair again. And he looked deeply in thought.


	6. Of Detention and Mischief Managed

"No wonder you always get detention Miss Moody. Hanging out with Sirius Black and his gang of trouble makers." Professor Merrythought sighed.

"They're not all that bad Professor, I assure you—"

"Trust me Miss Moody. There are horrors about them you wouldn't even believe,"

"Horrors?"

Professor Merrythought turned into the DADA classroom, walking up the stairs to her office, "Why don't you ask that boy Remus."

"What does Remus have to do with anything…?"

She went to her desk and pulled out a quill and a piece of parchment, "I want you to do lines for me."

Kelly rolled her eyes. Great. Lines.

"I want you to write 'I must not backtalk my teachers' 1000 times."

"One-Thousand times! Bollocks!"

"FINE, 1500 times."

Kelly sat down and picked up the quill, and started to scratch the words down over and over and over and over.

At about 7PM her hand started to cramp up, she put the quill down.

"I don't suppose you've finished, Miss Moody."

"Just taking a break, Professor." She clenched her teeth.

She had only written the line 600 times so far, and she had been there an hour and a half. So after a moment, she picked up the quill and began to scratch the words again.

In the Gryffindor common room Remus sat reading a book and doing his homework before the Marauders get-together at 9. Sirius and Lauren were sitting on the opposite couch, snogging. James and Lily were on the OTHER couch, also snogging. Rem was trying hard not to pay attention to them, because it only made him jealous, and a bit sick. He could only think of what it was like to snog someone, and how odd it felt that there was no one who was his to snog. The last time he snogged someone was almost five days ago now. He pulled the map out of his bag and tapped it. He searched the map idly when he came upon the two little blips sitting at the desk in the DADA room. One read "Galatea Merrythought" and the other read, "Kelly Moody". He stared at Kelly's two little feet on the map, wondering if she was as miserable as he was right now. Wondering if she was thinking about him at all. Remus also thought about when he kissed her, and when she was wearing his cloak outside, and when she hugged him.

Maybe she was plain… maybe she wasn't the thinnest girl but, did that matter-

"OY! Moony, what are you doing with the map?" Sirius looked up from under his girlfriend.

"Nothing. I was just looking at it." Remus tapped it with his wand and shoved it back in his bag. Returning to his Transfiguration homework. Pushing all thoughts of feelings or girls from his mind. While trying to ignore the two couples snogging on either side of him. Today was not a good day.

It was nearing 8:30 PM.

All Kelly was thinking about was finishing her lines to go down to the woods and hang out with Lauren….. and okay, maybe Remus.

Professor Merrythought was falling asleep while grading papers.

Kelly was marking the lines every 50. She was up to 1,350. Only 150 more lines to go. She just felt like she wanted to cry. Her hand and wrist hurt from writing for so long, this was way more punishment than she deserved. All she wanted was Remus. And based on their talk today during dinner, she felt like maybe someday he would want her too. She just wanted the chance to try.

It was getting close to 9:00.

Remus and Sirius were up in their room changing from their school robes into their muggle clothes.

Sirius wore black skinny jeans, a red t-shirt that said "FUCK" on the front, a blue sweatshirt with a black leather jacket over it. And his Gryffindor scarf around his neck. Remus was wearing black slacks, a long sleeve brown and light brown striped shirt with a gray coat over it.

They met Lauren in the hall outside in front of the fat lady. She was wearing blue jeans, a purple hoodie and a black pea coat over it. Sirius took her hand and kissed it, "you look nice."

She smiled and blushed a little, "I don't know if Kelly is going to make it… she might still be in detention. Should we wait for a few minutes in the front hall?"

Sirius immediately said no.

Remus nodded, "why not?"

He didn't know if he was just saying yes so he wouldn't be stuck watching them snog, or if he actually wanted Kelly there.

It was 9:34 when Kelly finished. She poked professor Merrythought who startled awake, "Kelly… what are you still doing here?"

Kelly yawned and put the quill down, "I just finished all 1,500 lines…"

Professor Merrythought looked surprised, " Oh… well. Get back to your house then. I hope we don't have to do this again, Miss Moody."

She nodded and picked up her bag. One of her long socks was down around her ankle, her hair was a mess, and her sweater wasn't buttoned up correctly.

Lauren, Sirius and Remus were outside the DADA room waiting for her.

"Thank god, there you are!" Lauren went over and hugged her, "That must have sucked."

Kelly nodded and hugged her best friend, her eyes looked up and caught the gaze of Remus.

Remus smiled and came over, "here, let me take this…" he pulled Kelly's bag off her shoulder and slung it over his own, "lets take you to your common room so you can change, okay?"

She nodded and smiled, "You guys waited for me…"

"Of course, Kell!" Lauren exclaimed, "You're one of us!"

Sirius shoved his hands in his pockets. He smirked and said, "not just anyone can sass their way into detention, you got guts kid."

The four of them walked to the dungeons to the Slytherin common room.

"Wait here…" Kelly said, taking her bag from Remus, "I'll be right back."

Kelly changed into black jeans, a yellow knit top, blue cardigan sweater, and a green fuzzy coat, and came back to meet her friends.

Remus smiled and pulled her close, arm around her shoulder, "shall we go?"

"Yeah." Kelly said as she looked at Lauren.

Lauren couldn't stop smiling.

The four friends walked out of the castle, heading down to the edge of the grounds.


	7. I Won't Remember Her

Sirius lit the fire and snuggled back down next to Lauren. There were beanbag couches around the fire, and Sirius pulled a flask out of his coat pocket, taking a swig. Smoke came from his mouth. He offered Lauren some saying, "I love firewhiskey…"

Kelly and Remus were sitting on opposite couches. Kelly was used to sitting on this couch by herself, but Remus was finding it difficult to get comfortable without his ex-girlfriend there beside him.

Remus continued to shuffle around awkwardly, and popped open a beer, throwing one to Kelly. She opened her beer and Remus held up his, "Here's to the single life."

He took a long gulp of beer.

Kelly looked down and stared into her open beer, "the single life…"

After talking and drinking for two hours, they were all thoroughly drunk.

Sirius and Lauren were snogging on the couch they sat on, Kelly and Remus were not surprised.

"So, you said earlier today that you were an artist?" Remus was not as drunk as the others, he wasn't really in the mood to drink tonight.

Kelly nodded, "Yeah… I-I draw all the time…" She pulled her coat more around her and shivered.

"What kinds of things do you draw?"

"People mostly…" Kelly looked down at the ground, "I draw you a lot."

Remus had forgotten the girl he was talking to was pretty drunk, "You draw me?"

She nodded, "all the time," She sniffled, "I can never stop thinking about you…"

He was anxious to get off the subject of her not being able to stop thinking about him, "How was detention?"

"I did lines for 4 hours."

"Ouch… that's rough, mate."

Kelly nodded and sniffled, "I didn't even do anything so bad to deserve that… I just wanted to leave and crawl in bed…" her eyes started to get shiny. Remus noticed that tears started to pool in her eyes. Being drunk could really bring out the worst in people… or at least the emotions.

"Love, are you alright?" He got up and went and sat beside her. She immediately began to sob into her hands.

Sirius and Lauren looked up from their snogging, Remus looked back at them. And neither of the three of them knew what to do.

"I am going to take her back inside…. Alright?" Remus stood up, "Come on Kelly…" He pulled her up and supporting her against him, they walked back up the hill to the castle.

"Rough day?" He looked down at her. She nodded and he sighed, "Me too…"

The two of them were standing in the entrance hall, "Remus… I'm sorry I always make your day worse."

"Make my day WORSE? You? Please." He ran a hand in his hair.

"Why do you do that so much?" She looked up to meet his gaze.

"Do… what?"

"You always run a hand through you're hair… when you're nervous or upset…"

Remus felt a surge of embarrassment inside his stomach, "so?"

"Its… cute," Kelly looked down and her face went pink.

Remus lit a cigarette and ran his hand in his hair again, "cute… right. Do you think you could make it up to your dorm okay by yourself? I… I want to get back down to the fire…" He started to walk away, feeling extremely uncomfortable. He didn't want to be mean, but, he didn't want Kelly to get the wrong idea.

"oh… y-yeah… s-sure…" He heard a soft voice crack behind him. He was leaving a drunk 17 year old to walk down into the dungeons all by herself… After a few minutes of leaning against the door to the castle he ran after her. Even if he didn't like her like that didn't mean that he wanted her to get hurt… She had to walk down stairs, and what if she got caught by a prefect? He couldn't let her get in trouble… not when it would be his fault.

He reached the stairs winding down into the dungeon and that's when he heard it, the sounds of someone crying. Near the bottom of the staircase a girl was sitting, crying into her dark green scarf.

She spoke;

"W-why did I have to be so stupid? I knew I shouldn't have gone with them tonight. I can't trust myself to keep my cool around him… Now he's never going to want to get to know me. Maybe he's feeling sick again…? " She wiped her nose.

Remus got an idea, "Kelly wait up! OH!" He pretended to trip, he bounced down a few stairs.

"R-Remmy!" She ran up the stairs and stopped his fake roll, "are you okay? You shouldn't run near stairs! You could have really hurt yourself…" her hand brushed some dirt from his face.

And for one second, Remus actually felt at ease. And she did too. For a moment everything was easy as breathing. Remus reached his hand up and took hers… "why are you crying? Its not because I scared you…?" he reached into his pocket and pulled out his handkerchief, and wiped a tear from her cheek. Maybe this was right for him, maybe SHE was right for him.

As she blushed and wiped her eyes he spoke again, "what did you call me? When I tripped?" He ran a hand in her hair.

"I… I called you Remmy I guess…" Her face was redder than his Gryffindor scarf. His ex never got nervous like this at his touch. Now that he thought of her again, he couldn't care less what her name was. The only name flooding his bloodstream was Kelly Moody… Kelly…

"I think I like that name…" he said as he continued to stroke her hair, "thanks for um... saving my ass, Kell."

She nodded and helped him up, "why did you come back?"

Remus shrugged and looked at her, "Sirius and Lauren are probably shagging. I don't need to see that… So I was wondering if I could still walk you to your dorm?"

Kelly nodded and smiled, she was still pretty drunk, so Remus could see how she acted when relaxed. She was bubbly and talkative the whole way down to the Slytherin common room. She had a great sense of humor, she got every joke he said. Her eyes lit up whenever he said her name. Remus had never known her to possess such vigor and charm. Maybe he had overlooked her this whole time—

"this is me…" she said, disappointment in her voice, "Thank you, Rem… for walking me back."

He nodded, "You've certainly helped this day make a comeback…"

She smiled, "same to you."

Remus ran his hand on her cheek, watching it light up crimson again, lifting her chin and planting a soft kiss on her lips.

This time the kiss wasn't a mistake. And although brief, was the best kiss he had ever experienced.

When he pulled away, Kelly opened her blue eyes to meet his, "Remus…"

She cooed his name softly, a mixture of pleasure and shock. Remus beamed.

"I'll see you tomorrow for breakfast then?" He was smiling from ear to ear.

Kelly nodded, "of course, sleep well…" She was beaming too.

Remus nodded, waving, he went back up the stairs and ran a hand in his hair. He looked at his watch. It was 2 AM. Only 7 more hours until he saw her again… He went back to his dormitory. And even though he heard the sounds of sex coming from Padfoot's bed, he didn't care.

Although she bears a faint resemblance, she's another face. Yes, this moment is new.

But I can't, I won't. I don't remember you.

I won't remember my ex-girlfriend.

For the first time in four days, Remus slept soundly through the night.


End file.
